Denver and the West

Shuttered Denver light-rail station worries Five Points

An RTD sign warns of the closure to the light rail stop at 29th/30th Street and Welton Street in Denver on Wednesday, November 13, 2013. The station was closed in January over concerns it was slowing down commute times in the corridor. Now light rail riders have to walk a couple of extra blocks to catch the light rail which still passes this location. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

When Christine Martin learned the light-rail station at 29th and Welton streets in Denver's Five Points neighborhood was being closed, the disabled U.S. Army veteran cried.

"I knew I'd either have to walk to my appointments or go a couple of blocks up and use the station at 30th Avenue and Downing, and I did not want to go there," said Martin. "You see a lot of rude people there, cussing, smoking pot, using drugs, drinking and fighting."

But when she has to get to her doctor's appointments, Martin girds herself and joins other commuters at East 30th Avenue and Downing Street, a rail stop made notorious by criminal acts including a brutal assault and robbery of a man in September that was caught on video.

The light rail stop at 29th/30th Street and Welton Street in Denver on Wednesday, November 13, 2013. The station was closed in January over concerns it was slowing down commute times in the corridor. Now light rail riders have to walk a couple of extra blocks to catch the light rail which still passes this location. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Since Jan. 1, police have logged 26 crimes at 30th and Downing, seven of them violent, according to department crime maps.

"You just have to learn to handle yourself there and try to avoid trouble," Martin said.

The Regional Transportation District earlier this year shuttered the 29th and Welton station to speed train traffic through a narrow single-track section of the Five Points neighborhood. The station was one of three within a few blocks.

The change elevated passenger fears about safety but also worries economic development officials in the neighborhood who say the vacant station could seed blight in an area that is just beginning to regain its cultural and economic footing.

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District 2 Cmdr. Mike Calo said a recent change in police district boundaries will put more officers — in uniform and undercover — at 30th and Downing to protect passengers. They will be joined by RTD security officers. New lighting was installed over the summer.

"We have a barrage of tools in our toolbox to do the job," Calo said.

Light-rail service through Five Points is an important economic development lever, said Five Points Business District executive director Tracy Winchester.

But a vacant station could harm prospects for the 1.5-square-mile area around the Central line, which is trying to attract new local businesses and arts organizations, and people to patronize them.

"A vacant station at this particular time and place, would look terrible," Winchester said. "You just wonder if closing the station will deter other property owners from investing in the neighborhood."

Her group is among those who see long-term possibilities for Five Points, many linked to transportation.

One calls for a modern "streetcar" service operating on rails in mixed traffic on Welton and Downing streets. This would hark back to the day when the historically black Five Points neighborhood was a busy retail and cultural destination.

Another would add a spur from the Central line's final stop at 30th and Downing to connect with the future East line, which will run from downtown Union Station to Denver International Airport.

The proposed link, Winchester said, is a key element of Five Points' revival. "We certainly want to be able to connect to DIA."

But a shuttered station at 29th and Welton could put the brakes on any new development on the corridor, Denver City Councilman Albus Brooks said.

"Let's not just look at shutting this down," Brooks said, "let's look at other alternatives."

RTD's board of directors voted narrowly in favor of holding off on demolition of the station until a study of the feasibility of the Central-line link is complete.

The report could outline another use for the 29th and Welton station, but isn't due until August.

RTD has promised not to allow the abandoned station to fall into disrepair in the meantime.

Longtime commuter Judi Williams hopes not.

Williams, 70, takes the light rail everyday to the Five Points Media Center at 29th and Welton.

"If they are going to close this station, it would be helpful to have better security there," she said. "We need to discourage the bad element from congregating there."

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